Take Back the Night

Last night was the nation wide "Take Back The Night". In our town this event is celebrated at Trine University.

The event is to bring awareness to sexual assault to men and women. The boys' football team came to the event wearing high heels to represent walking in the footsteps of the young women.

It was a beautiful spring night and the campus was full of students and community members participating and pledging in this event.

We walked to the mound, circled around and came back to the campus. The streets were closed for that short amount of time to allow for the students to march and chant.

I think the event left us feeling stronger and safer in my small town.

How was the event in your town?

Until tomorrow.

It is indeed April, with all its elements...

It is indeed April, with all its elements - KPCNews: Kpcnews

My back yard.

The day I wrote my column we had two inches of rain followed by very high winds. I took this photo in the early morning while the world was still covered with fog.

This week's column is a mix-match of lots of stories...Farmers Almanac, King Lear, Edna St. Vincent Millay...and the list goes on.

I hope you enjoy this column and my back yard. Just click on the above link.

I will keep you posted as the world begins to dry out.

Until tomorrow.

Pen Pals

Every once in a while I get a package from France in the mail. The package is from my pen pal, Micky Mireille, who lives in a small village in France.

Our acquaintance began on Facebook and we have never met in person. Even though I have never sent a package to her, I love I continue to receive small bits in the mail from Micky.

Her writing is flowery and curvy much like a French garden must be. Micky shares family details, weather, along with her mastery of cooking and gardening.

This last month she enclosed a copy of a watercolor of the village where she grew up, Aubenas in Ardeche. I love her stories of primary school where her mother was the only teacher and then moving on to secondary school.

Micky's words are like music and her invitation to visit is intriguing and is being considered.

I love having pen pals at any age. I think maybe they are wasted on our fourth graders. So, Micky, watch the mail because one of these days you will receive a small bit of mail from Indiana.

Until tomorrow.

Warm Showers

Anna's video

As most of you know, I belong to a group called Warm Showers. This is an organization that hosts bicyclists who are traveling across one's area.

I am on a well-traveled route and host many of these folks during the warmer months. I provide a bed, shower, supper, breakfast and lots of conversation. Even when I am not here, my house minder takes care of these cyclists.

The folks come from everywhere and every country. This past Autumn I hosted a young lady from London, Ann McNuff. She was bicycling across America hitting every fifty states.

When she returned home she made this video. It is a wonderful short video about her travels. 

Please just click on her name and the video will appear. It is a wonderful compilation of her travels.

I am looking forward to another season of bicyclists as soon as the snow is gone!

Until tomorrow.

Just one book to go this Women’s History Month...

Just one book to go this Women’s History Month - KPCNews: Kpcnews

As March comes to an end, we also come to the end of Women's History Month. Please enjoy this week's column dedicated to that same cause. If that isn't enough, please make sure you register to vote!  Just click on the above link.

Until tomorrow.

This photo was taken last fall in the Crown Hill Cemetery.

Childe Hassam

Union Square in 1890 by Childe Hassam, an American painter.

pelting cold raindrops
wash away winter's darkness
wet, damp eyelashes

glaring streets of rain
send families home tonight
meatloaf and brownies

glistening droplets
fall from canopied trees
my hollow footsteps

Haiku by Lou Ann
Welcome Rain

My hometown helps me kindle the passion...

My hometown helps me kindle the passion - KPCNews: Kpcnews



Dear Friends,



Here is the link to last week's column. As always I appreciate you as a reader, a poster, and someone interested in Stories from a Small Town.



Until tomorrow.

St. Patrick's Day

My grandpa Rhoads always planted potatoes on St. Patrick's Day. I remember my sister, Jessie, and I helping out on those blustery cold March days. Grandpa always took the potato pieces out to the garden in a large burlap bag. First he dug a small hole, then he took out his pocket knife and cut out the eye of the potato and planted it in the hole. Jessie and I "hilled" up the cold, wet dirt around the plant. 

By the end of the first row of potatoes, our fingers and toes were raw with dirt and the coldness of March. Our grandma seemed to know just the right time to bring out the thermos of "milk" coffee for us. It was warm milk with just a hint of coffee. It was enough to finish the job.

When we dumped out the last of the potatoes onto the ground there were two silver dollars waiting for us among the dirt and last of the potato pieces.

I always remember this story on St. Patrick's Day and try to honor my grandpa by planting my own potatoes on this day. However, with our long winter, my

garden is still blanketed in snow. The best I can do is to toss the potatoes out onto the snow drift and see what happens.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone. 

Potatoes from the bin at Rural King

Broken bones help one be thankful, really

Broken bones help one be thankful, really - KPCNews: Kpcnews



I just realized I did not post last week's column. I thought I better get this one out before tomorrow's new column.

Just click on the above link.


As always, I appreciate you, my reader.


Until tomorrow,

Lou Ann

Robert Frost

I took this photo from my front porch this morning on my crutches! It is actually the first photo I have taken since my injury.

We received nine more inches of snow yesterday along with below zero temperatures. Ah, but the beauty of winter is still magical. 

Please enjoy a short video on Robert Frost reciting his famous poem, "Stopping by a Woods on a Snowy Evening."

Still snowing?

Sunset in my backyard.

It is early Saturday morning and the flakes are as big as dinner plates as they, once again, show the strength of this winter. They snow is simply covering other snow! I still have foot of snow in my yard, under my clothesline, and my driveway is a sheet of ice. However, under all of this is the sheer beauty of winter. Going through one of my own haiku books this morning (while writing new ones), I found some lovely old pieces. I think you can enjoy them even if the sun is shining where you live!

Today's Haiku

empty streets of ice

longing for summer walkers

all doors frozen shut

bloodlines of winter

run through blue veined lifeless hands

I'm sleeping til spring

roads of sooted dust

swirls with frigid drollness

cold pacidity

Until tomorrow.

Spring in Savannah

Spring in Savannah

Several years ago Philip and I traveled to Savannah, Georgia. It has always remained one of my favorite trips. It was winter, and it was necessary to wear my loden green cape for warm with my black boots.

We dined at the Pink House, celebrated high tea in an afternoon, and spent hours touring side streets and cemeteries.

We took an even ghost tour which was led by a young man from New Jersey. I remember telling Philip that we better get a ghost tour started before he moved to New Jersey. Well, you know the rest of that story!

I bought this photo and tucked it away on a back shelf. Today as I was hobbling past an old cabinet I saw it peeking out. What a great find for a long winter. It was still wrapped in plastic so I took it out and set it up in the living room where I continue to hold court.

Out my windows there are still feet and feet of snow, but a little spring on the inside is good for everyone who visits.

Until tomorrow,

Lou Ann

And the beat goes on...

Yesterday was the day I gave up the wheelchair. I watched from the car as Karen hauled it back into the rental company. I have to admit it was difficult watching it go as we had become the best of friends for almost seven weeks.

I think it is amazing how much we can adjust to our circumstances. 

I broke my ankle in three places seven weeks ago with a following surgery. The first week was learning how to live in my house with the chair and friends coming and going. 

After that time I had my lifestyle in order. I knew what I could do and focused on that. But after one quick Dr.'s visit, it was on to the crutches.

These are more difficult to maneuver. Everything that we put on the lower shelf, now must be on the higher shelf. There is no carrying as two hands are now moving me around the house.

Today is difficult and my entire pattern is disrupted, but I know this is how it must be for healing. 

Dishes are piling up and muscles I had forgotten about are now giving me a holler. This too shall pass.

The beat goes on...